Customer Reviews

Silk Stalkings - The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the continuing story of a pair of Palm Beach (Florida) detectives investigating crimes of passion, AKA "sik stalkings". The detectives for the first four seasons are Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lee Lance, played respectively by Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture. If you're new to "Silk Stalkings" you should really look elsewhere, as the rest of this review assumes you're moderately familiar with the show.

This was the second and last CBS "Crimetime After Prime Time" season before it moved to USA network.

This season nailed the formula "Silk Stalkings" was to use for years to come. The golfing metaphors for sex are a thing of the past, and Rita's brain aneurism is never mentioned again. Mitzi Kapture does a voice-over in most episodes, but it's not the constant presence it was in Season One. While male guest roles continue to have diversity of character, women in guest roles are pretty much either Saints or Sinners, and the Sinners only have two ways to go: Sluts and Sociopaths. Thankfully, the fetish for big 1980's hairdos and hosiery ("silk stockings" -- get it?) has largely disappeared. And of course we still see too many San Diego hillsides to convincingly stand in for the flat land around Palm Beach.

As this was a late-night budget show, we still get grainy video. The intro is unchanged; Mitzi Kapture still appears first in the credits with the big 1980's hair. (Later Rob and Mitzi alternated first and second billing.) Closed captions are new this season. In a budget-constrained show that's heavy on sex it's not surprising to see the occasional lapse in censorship; I counted two accidental nipple exposures (down from three in Season One). This season also marked the first use of blur to censor nudity -- it's cheaper to just shoot and blur later than it is to set up careful camera angles to keep things out of sight.

Ben Vereen as Capt. Hutchinson only appears in two episodes. In the others he's been replaced by Robert Gossett as Lt. Hudson. Charlie Brill appears twice this season as "Myron the Mattress King", and his wife Mitzi McCall plays Myron's wife. Starting the next season Charlie Brill replaces Hutchinson and Hudson as the Homicide Division head, and Mitzi McCall again plays his wife.

Anchor Bay screwed up this DVD quite a bit. There are 8 minutes missing from episode "Dead Weight" (the first of Erin Gray's two guest appearances on the show); you don't get to see the denouement at all.

Additionally, during the 55 second intro after the disc loads (FBI warning, Anchor Bay logo, Stephen J. Cannell Productions Logo, and an animated credits sequence before the menu appears) the disc disables
- FF
- reverse
- chapter forward
- menu
- top menu
- search
You *must* watch the full 55 seconds each and every time you load a disc. Bleah!

Also during play there is no
- search by chapter
- search by time

There are no additional chapter stops; just 4 for the 4 acts of each show. This means you can't skip past the credits except by fast forwarding.

Episode order in this set is problematic. For one thing, this "Season Two" collection starts with the third episode of the year (the first two were at the end of the "Season One" DVD set), and includes the first show of Season Three. Episode 2.19, "Star Signs" is misplaced at the end of disc 5 instead of at its beginning. But Anchor Bay isn't the only culprit here. In the original play order coroner Noriko Weinstein first showed up in episode 2.11, "Irreconcilable Differences", but there's an introduction scene for her TEN episodes later (ELEVEN in the Anchor Bay order)!

Recurring roles include
- William Anton as ADA George Donovan
- Dennis Paladino as mobster Donnie "Dogs" DiBarto
- Marie Marshall as photographer Solonge
- John Byner as con artist Cotton Dunn
- Lucy Lin as coroner Noriko Weinstein

Notable guest stars for this collection are Romy Windsor, Roddy Piper, Salli Richardson, Luca Bercovici, Tobin Bell, Edward Albert, Audrey Landers, Josie Bissett, Henry Darrow, Jamie Rose, Erin Gray, John Laughlin, Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall, Maddie Corman, Andrew Stevens, Barbara Niven, Charlie Callas, Andrea Thompson, Tracy Scoggins, Casey Sander, Gail O'Grady, and Jay Acovone.

The extras for this DVD set are reminiscences by Stephen J. Cannell and Mike Post about their lives and careers, mostly NOT about "Silk Stalkings". There's a single SS script and a few Chris & Rita stills from the show.

The production values still reflect the cheap budget, but the guest actors are a bit more competent this season. Mitzi and Rob are starting to get really comfortable in their roles. So don't let the bad Anchor Bay treatment keep you from collecting this set. It's good TV.

SILK STALKINGS is like a crazy love child of BAYWATCH and MIAMI VICE and could have been directed by soft porn master Zalman King. It was early 90s TV pushed to its limits of nudity and violence. Originally the show ran late at night on CBS (in a 10:30 CST time slot) and also on USA. CBS let it go after a couple of seasons and started their Letterman show while USA kept it running for seven or eight seasons. What makes this batch of shows is the cast. Rita Lee Lance (Mitzi Kapture) and Chris Lorenzo (Rob Estes) were perfectly matched to play buddy cops of a different kind - platonic male and female buddies. They were great together, and this season shows them in strong form. Sure - it's goofy, silly, sexy fun! But oddly the show is kinda addictive.

I noticed one episode on disc four seems to be missing 10 minutes. It's called "Dead Weight". It runs only 37 minutes versus all the others at 47 minutes, and has no resolution to the crime at all. Don't know if all the sets have this error, but contact Anchor Bay via their website if you notice it. Hopefully they will send replacement discs.

Apart from that the picture is clear and the episodes are uncut. Not much in the way of extras, but it seems like a lot fun just to see these cops back on the beat in San Diego... oops! I mean in Florida (it was shot in California and sometimes you can tell).

This is just to let Silk fans know that Anchor Bay Entertainment has fixed the problem with the episode Dead Weight. I just got my replacement today fedex. If you still have a disk 4 with the missing 15 mintues of Dead Weight or buy the set in the store and it has this problem, Call Anchor Bay Entertainment don't waste your time trying to email them, There phone number is on the bottom of there web page. They were real nice to talk to. Thank you Anchor Bay for fixing this and to all the Silk fans who contacted them about this problem.

The earlier reviewer is correct. The episode Dead Weight on Disc Four is missing a key few minutes, namely the resolution. We don't learn who the real killer is. It is not a defective disc, the episode is just missing several minutes. This is probably the case across the board.

I've had many problems with Anchor Bay (defective discs, missing discs, etc.). It's too bad that we have to deal with them if we want some of our favorite shows, especially Highlander. I have had to return/exchange every boxed set of that show because of defective discs.

I guess I'll have to go to a fan site for Silk Stalkings and find an episode guide of the shows to learn who the killer is in the Dead Weight episode. It's like reading a mystery novel only to discover someone has ripped out the last few pages.

Shame on you, Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Season 2 is really where this show grew a cult -- the two leads really developed their great chemistry here -- it's what makes this show a (weird) pleasure -- you have two likeable cops who are best friends, who solve these completely ludicrous, sleazy crimes, in a show that had no budget, so they made the cop station look like a Roller Disco/Goofy Golf funpark, and all the woman (save our Rita) sluts! Season 2 was when Gordon Dawson (a Sam Peckinpah companero) started writing a lot of episodes (4 this season) that really capture the somewhat over-the-top absurd nature of the project and help define the two leads' relationship (one of his episodes from this season, the nutty and mostly comic SOUL KISS, is many fans' favorite). This season has a much lighter tone and better scripts than the 1st season (or the soap-opera-like 4th and 5th seasons), we get better guest stars like Tim Thomerson and Roddy Piper (and the OTHER sister from CHARLES IN CHARGE!), and the supporting cast was at its best (John Byner as Cotton Dunn and Dennis Paladino as Donnie "Dogs" Dibarto get their best episodes this season), and you can generally tell they were having fun doing it. Season 3 is good too, (it was the first with Captain Lipschitz), but if you want only a taste, or are a Cannell fan who wants an introduction, season 2 is the way to go.

The DVD is fine -- it has the same generic extras as other Cannell Season 2 sets, like Greatest american hero -- and one episode is offered in French, and one in Spanish. But the shows are uncut and look good, so I'm not complainin'.

I remember having watched Silk Stalkings when it first came out years ago. I was completely sucked in by it then, and it sucked me right back into it when I watched it on DVD. I love the characters of Chris and Rita, and the chemistry between them. It was a fantastic show, and it is too bad there isn't one on TV like it now!!

Nominated for only one Emmy, the entertainment quality of Silk Stalkings is nevertheless evidenced by its nine season run which is one of the most enduring ever for an original cable TV series. Partly responsible for this lack of critical acclaim is that Silk Stalkings was a trailblazer in the cable genre, and handing out Emmys to original cable series didn't become fashionable until the late-1990s when Sex And The City and The Sopranos broke the cable barrier for good. Another contributing factor to the lack of peer recognition is that Silk Stalkings lasted about four seasons longer than it should have, given that nearly the entire cast and crew were replaced after the first five seasons. Regardless, this hour-long drama series set in Palm Beach, Florida contains all the necessary ingredients for a hit show - beautiful people in a beautiful setting with lots of murder, violence, and intrigue. Silk Stalkings offers everything one could ask for in a TV drama, and the show's success helped pave the way for additional original cable series such as Monk and The Shield...

Silk Stalkings follows the exploits of two Palm Beach, Florida detectives who investigate murders and other high profile crimes in an elite community which is no stranger to fame and fortune. Sgt. Chris Lorenzo (Rob Estes) and Sgt. Rita Lee Lance (Mitzi Kapture) are partners on the local Palm Beach Police Department, and each episode they must investigate one or more high-profile crimes. The dynamic relationship between Chris and Rita is a focal point of the show, and the two will overturn every stone and use every tactic at their disposal to bring justice to those who, either due to fame and/or wealth, believe they are above the laws that governor average people... Veteran entertainer Ben Vereen plays their boss, Capt. Hutchinson, in seasons one through three before being replaced by Charlie Brill (Capt. Harry Lipschitz) for the remainder of the series... Overall, Silk Stalkings is a finely scripted investigative drama cut from the same mold as Law & Order SVU...

The Silk Stalkings (Season 2) DVD features a number of dramatic episodes including the season premiere "Baser Instincts" in which Chris and Rita investigate the inner-workings a local film company that might be a possible front for an organization with a far more sinister purpose than filming beautiful people... Other notable episodes from Season 2 include "Bad Blood" in which a family member becomes a prime suspect in a brutal attack on his family, and "Dead Weight" in which Chris and Rita investigate the gym room murder of a businessman who was having an affair...

Below is a list of episodes included on the Silk Stalkings (Season 2) DVD:

Episode 21 (Baser Instincts)
Episode 22 (Goodtime Charlie)
Episode 23 (Social Call)
Episode 24 (Wild Card)
Episode 25 (In Too Deep)
Episode 26 (Bad Blood)
Episode 27 (Hot Rocks)
Episode 28 (Scorpio Lover)
Episode 29 (Love - 15)
Episode 30 (The Queen is Dead)
Episode 31 (Irreconcilable Differences)
Episode 32 (Jasmine)
Episode 33 (Crush)
Episode 34 (Was It Good for You Too?)
Episode 35 (Dead Weight)
Episode 36 (Kid Stuff)
Episode 37 (Night Games)
Episode 38 (Meat Market)
Episode 39 (Star Signs)
Episode 40 (Giant Steps)
Episode 41 (Soul Kiss)
Episode 42 (Look the Other Way)
Episode 43 (Voices)

The DVD Report

I love Silk Stalkings and think Season 2 is one of the best seasons. Some of the best episodes include Soul Kiss, Social Call, Hot Rocks and Goodtime Charlie. Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture have great chemistry together and season 2 really plays on that.
The only problem I had was one episode was cut short by 10 minutes but I emailed Anchor Bay Entertainment and they mailed me a new disc so I got to finally see the episode.
If you are a classic Silk Stalkings Fan I highly Recommend this season.

One more t.v. series I came across while looking on Amazon that I added to my Wish List and received as a birthday present. I was skeptical of my taste in the early 90s vs. today. I remember thinking it was a kind of a newer, maybe shallower Miami Vice-style, that was pretty risqué for regular cable t.v. I used to watch it sporadically on USA late at night, but probably never saw two episodes in a row.

My fiancée and I watched the first episode with my parents. None of us really got into it and I felt a little disappointed. A little while later (days? a week?) my fiancée and I were looking for something to watch that wasn't too long, so we gave it another whirl. After the second episode we were hooked and preceded to watch a bunch, one after another. We cruised through the First Season way too fast that I even found myself watching the Extras! To make a long story short, we're about half way through the Fifth Season now and dread the inevitable, that this is the last season out on DVD.

Yes, there is 90s cheese, florescent outfits that we can't believe we thought were cool, some questionable hairdos, swimsuits, only large-chested women always seemingly getting out of a pool at the crime scene wearing a thong bikini, every episode opens with a sex scene that ends in someone's death, and the list goes on and on. However, we are totally hooked and love every episode and season! It's part romantic comedy, part t.v. detective series drama. I loved Miami Vice, but usually didn't find myself laughing whereas with Silk we are laughing during every episode and feeling good at the end of them. There also is very little blood and gore. You get the idea of what happened, but often see no blood when someone is killed. The chemistry between Chris and Rita as well as them and the others characters is great. I would say our only disappointment is you get attached to a few characters that all of the sudden never show up again in an episode (some of the coroners, Cotton, etc.). Also, they are kind of bad about reusing characters that had such strong parts in episodes that it is sometimes weird to see them again in a different episode as someone different. All in all, 5-Stars!

Like the first set, it's not the best quality, there are no subtitles available and no goodies on that one. But, hey, if you're a fan, you'll enjoy it very much!